Trending Now

You are here

Lady Stars lose defensive battle in opener, 23-21

BERNE—Reminiscent of Bellmont/Concordia on Tuesday, South Adams' opener felt a lot like a pre-season affair against the Daleville Broncos with plenty of missed shots, turnovers, and slow offense.
When the rust settled after the final horn, the Broncos escaped with a 23-21 victory over the Lady Starfires ruining first-year coach Brett Freeman's debut.
The Stars opened up the game with a 4-0 lead on a pair of free throws from starting center Dzejna (jay-nuh)Ahmetovic followed by Alyssa Bluhm's driving lay-up.
Daleville would hoist up several shots before finally getting on the board with 3:45 left in the first quarter as senior Jamie Roberts bottomed a triple to bring the Broncos within one point.
After a short jumper, Daleville was on top 5-4, then Bluhm made another lay-in flipping the lead once again. With just a few ticks left in the first frame, senior reserve Alex Pence broke free on the out of bounds play and hit a 10-foot jumper to beat the buzzer putting D-ville up 7-6 at the end of the quarter.
South Adams managed to put up only four shots from the floor in the quarter, all from Bluhm, compared to five turnovers. Both teams were patient with the ball on offense which also contributed to the low score.
"We're not going to try and race anybody up and down the court with our squad," noted coach Freeman who has a total of 12 girls on his roster, a number that includes the JV reserves.
The second quarter was straight out of the Squaws/Cadets playbook from earlier this week as Daleville managed to outscore SA 3-1 for a three-point advantage heading into halftime.
Bluhm made one of two free throws on the Stars' second possession of the half to tie the score at 7-7 but SA would not find the basket for the rest of the half.
The Broncos were not the shining example of offense, either. They hoisted only six shots in the quarter making just one, a jumper from Pence. Daleville's third point came from Jordyn Marshel a few plays later. It would be the only free throw make from the visitors the entire game as they finished 1-5 from the line. South Adams shot 0-7 from the field in the quarter.
Despite the abysmal shooting, South Adams was fortunate to go in the locker room down only three points.
"You can't have a quarter like the second we had and win very games," analyzed coach Freeman. "We are not going to outscore a lot of teams so we are going to have to defend well."